Molecular traces of Drosophila hemocytes reveal transcriptomic conservation with vertebrate myeloid cells.
PLoS Genet
; 19(12): e1011077, 2023 Dec.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38113249
ABSTRACT
Drosophila hemocytes serve as the primary defense system against harmful threats, allowing the animals to thrive. Hemocytes are often compared to vertebrate innate immune system cells due to the observed functional similarities between the two. However, the similarities have primarily been established based on a limited number of genes and their functional homologies. Thus, a systematic analysis using transcriptomic data could offer novel insights into Drosophila hemocyte function and provide new perspectives on the evolution of the immune system. Here, we performed cross-species comparative analyses using single-cell RNA sequencing data from Drosophila and vertebrate immune cells. We found several conserved markers for the cluster of differentiation (CD) genes in Drosophila hemocytes and validated the role of CG8501 (CD59) in phagocytosis by plasmatocytes, which function much like macrophages in vertebrates. By comparing whole transcriptome profiles in both supervised and unsupervised analyses, we showed that Drosophila hemocytes are largely homologous to vertebrate myeloid cells, especially plasmatocytes to monocytes/macrophages and prohemocyte 1 (PH1) to hematopoietic stem cells. Furthermore, a small subset of prohemocytes with hematopoietic potential displayed homology with hematopoietic progenitor populations in vertebrates. Overall, our results provide a deeper understanding of molecular conservation in the Drosophila immune system.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Drosophila
/
Hemocitos
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS Genet
Asunto de la revista:
GENETICA
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article